It's that time of the year again.

Today I accompanied my eldest daughter and youngest grandson as he attended his annual review at the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital (aka Pendlebury). For the first time ever on such a visit there was no need for a blood count to be taken, it felt really good in a strange kind of way! We were aware walking in, as well as walking out, that there was nothing to fear and I can't express how good that felt/feels but I needed to try. The best I can do is this poem:


I Just Wanted To Say

What was special about today
Was that penny
Do you remember?
I gave you all the coins I had
Shiny twenty pence pieces
Plus a few odd coppers
And off you went to do battle
With the vending machine
Returning only a short while later
Laden with treats
And just one penny change
I loved the way you grinned
Showing me that new front tooth
And only for a second
did I remember
How you lost others
Along with your hair
And I just wanted to say
It’s been a great day!

What was special about today
Was your smile
Do you remember?
When the Doctor asked you
If you played football
And you held back
That smart remark
I knew you were thinking
As you surveyed
His gallery of famous footballers
Dressed in red
It didn’t even matter
That our team wears BLUE
And I just wanted to say
It’s been a great day!

What was special about today
Was the way your mother felt
When the Doctor told her
That there was nothing left
To worry about
The chances of
A malignant tumour
Were just the same
As for any other boy
Without a history of AML
And although you didn’t notice
The weight fall from her shoulders
The world did
And I just wanted to say
It’s been a great day!

Do you know
what was really special about today?
YOU were here to share it!

Labels: Life, Poem, Poetry

Posted by Miladysa at 4:47 PM 26 Comments

It's been a long time coming ~ here's the surprise I promised you:


RoYds as you have never seen it before!


Great big hugs and thank yous to Gail for all her hard work with the custom illustration (as well as the other illustrations which are to follow) and to Luna for having the patience of a Saint while creating such a fantastic template!

What do you think?

Labels: Fiction, Refuge of Delayed Souls, RoYds

Posted by Miladysa at 8:52 PM 11 Comments

Would you believe I have been interviewed for the Web Fiction Guide? Well I have and I can hardly believe it myself!

Chris Tejeda, author of The Lifting of the Veil, grilled me for nigh on two hours last Sunday. You will be amazed when you read what he managed to get out of me about Refuge Of Delayed Souls (RoYds) - I know I was!

The interview has now been published online and you can read it here

If there is anything else you would like to know about the story please mention it in the comments section and I will try to let you have an answer in a future post.

Meanwhile, RoYds is undergoing a bit of maintenance over the next couple of days. Many of the chapters have received/are receiving yet another edit and some of them have been/will be renumbered. Hopefully your enjoyment of the story should not be hindered in any way.

Something else too - remember that surprise I promised you? It's on the way and should be here before the weekend - fingers crossed!

Labels: Miladysa, Refuge of Delayed Souls, RoYds, WFG

Posted by Miladysa at 3:20 PM 26 Comments

My little girl has spent an entire week designing, building and painting a beautiful barrow as a special present for me to plant flowers in and display in the garden. Somehow, Mr Sparks got the idea that it was a gift for him.























Mini Milady was none too impressed with his antics!





















Nothing was going to stop her from showing off her wonderful masterpiece though!





























I'm a very lucky Mum!

Labels: Life

Posted by Miladysa at 7:09 PM 26 Comments

Political Correctness is driving me up the wall! I am absolutely sick to the back teeth of politicians, bureaucrats and potty flaming councils! If I had a weekly Fkucwit like Baino the award without doubt would go to the morons at Lewes District Council in Sussex.

Are you ready for this one? Make sure you are seated... here we go!

The Fkucwits in Lewes have decided that they are going to clean up their rude street names such as "Juggs Lane" and get rid of "aesthetically unsuitable" names such as Gaswork Road and Coalpit Lane!

Now for those of you who do not understand some of our rather quaint English words, dialects, slangs and phrases the people of Lewis once referred to fish baskets as juggs and so Juggs Lane translates to Fish Basket Lane. With me so far? Have I offended anyone?

'Juggs' can also sometimes be used to refer to ladies breasts, other terms being boobs, chesticles, bacon bits and a hundred or so others.

The great minds in Lewes have come to the conclusion that Juggs Lane must be offensive and therefore they need to rename it in politically correct terms! Heavens knows how much this is going to cost despite the fact that we are in the midst of a financial recession!

In their efforts not to offend these nambypamby barmpots have offended me - not that I count because I am one of the majority who happen to love our British culture and want to see it preserved!

Places are named after events, landmarks and local people amongst other things. Place names are part of our local history and culture and in my opinion they should be protected.

As much as I accept that it might be almost impossible to arrange a delivery to Butt Hole Lane in Conisbrough, South Yorkshire and Tumbledown Dick in Oxford you can always move!

Anyone offended by this post best bog off as we say (until the day we are politically corrected) in Lancashire!

Labels: Life

Posted by Miladysa at 4:59 PM 22 Comments

KJ Babes has tagged me with a Health and Spirituality meme.

A copy of KJ’s book -The Light Stays On - arrived at our house this morning! Once read her book will join those of Charles, Sidney and book gifts from Melissa in my treasured Blog Friends Book Collection.

Now, on to the meme.
Five things I do every day to keep my spirit happy and healthy
in no particular order:

Each night before I go to sleep I have a conversation with God. I thank him for the blessings of the day, for my life and family. I ask him to show me the light and the way. I pray for the world, people and creatures of it. I ask for forgiveness.

I avoid newspapers, television programmes/films with gratuitous violence or cruelty and anything else which irritates my soul. This probably sounds dramatic but I can actually feel such nastiness. I like to keep my personal space as pleasant as possible where I can.

I stay close to nature - in a way it is my Church. I can easily walk into the Dell and on to the moors from our home. I can see and sense both from any room in the house. In an ideal world I would live in a cottage in the woods with no close neighbours. My three eldest children now live in a nearby town; they all see each other on a daily basis. I feel left out and fear that my youngest daughter will miss out. They want us to live closer to them - my youngest son has even found us a house to buy! I would love to live closer but I fear that my spirit would suffer in the middle of a large town. At the moment I find myself torn.

I give myself lectures. I tell myself it is permissible to be less than perfect. I tell myself that I do not have to be the best in everything I do. I tell myself that it is OK to fail some times. I tell myself that I have always tried my best and have the right intentions. I take inspiration from a quote Melissa introduced me to: "Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best." Henry Van Dyke

I face my demons and fight. I use my writing as a tool here. I live my life and continue to live. I refuse to believe in any family curse and deny it with every breath I take. I will live to be old and I will set an example for those who follow me. I am planning my birthday party next year and I will celebrate it for the generations who went before me and never saw their children or grandchildren grow up!


No tags but please feel free to take this one up if you would like to do so :D

Labels: Life, Miladysa

Posted by Miladysa at 4:37 PM 19 Comments

Last night I had a really strange and surreal dream. I dreamt my father was humming a tune and showing me a folded card. "Today's BIG race," he said. "It's worth a bet!"

When I woke up I jumped out of bed, Sir H was already up and brushing his teeth. I started humming the tune to him and asked if he recognised it and then told him about my dream. Now as I have said before, Sir H is a plain speaking Yorkshire man and normally he would have reached for a straight-jacket but on this occasion he shook his head and informed me that he didn't recognise the tune or recognise it as Morse Code.

Unperturbed I picked up the telephone and called my youngest son. When his girlfriend answered sleepily I remembered what time of day it was, apologised and then explained my dream to him. "Channel 4, teletext, racing, see if there's owt there that reminds you of the dream," he muttered. I'm sure he thinks I've lost the plot. Perhaps I have! Anyway, there's a horse running named Dream Song - perhaps I will, perhaps I won't...

With the arrival of The New Year I have made some Resolutions for a change:

1. To loose weight
2. Get fitter
3. Get out and about a bit more. Driving was something which suffered a bit following my operation and subsequent complications. Sir H even offered to buy me an automatic car which I declined in favour of a week in Menorca with E and the grandchildren. I've improved lots and driving has become easier these days. I plan to blow the cobwebs off old Betsy and make a few long distance trips in the months ahead.
4. Explore my spirituality. I'm not exactly sure what I mean by that as it's more of a feeling than a thought. I've been thinking a lot about God recently (pick yourself up off the floor LS) and what religion means to me. No doubt it is associated with my attending church more often in connection with E's First Holy Communion later this year. Anyway, I've been surprised to discover during my discussions with our local Priest that I'm not as far away as I once thought I was.

I've managed to find the time and inclination to write more recently and have amassed a few RoYds post which are scheduled to post every couple of days for the time being. There's still a surprise on the way but it is taking a little longer than expected due to the recent festivities. I'll let you all know when it happens!

Right, time for a brew and catch up with all your blogs!

***Update***

Following this post I discussed my dream some more with my family and it was mentioned that my father was never a horse racing fan. He did like greyhound racing however and low and behold there was Greyhound racing at Bell Vue in Manchester tonight. A dog running in the first race was named Twofold Tempest. I placed a wager on it or rather Sir H did on my behalf and the dog romped home!!!!

Labels: Life, Miladysa

Posted by Miladysa at 10:51 AM 10 Comments